respect they appeared to have but one mind), to the comforts and
pleasures of its inhabitants. Such attentive kindnesses, are amply
repaid by affectionate regard and reverence; and were they general
throughout the kingdom, they would do much more towards guarding us
against democratical opinions

_Than twenty thousand soldiers, arm'd in proof._

The cheerfulness of the scene I have mentioned, and all the interesting
circumstances attending it, (so different from those of solitary
grandeur,) have convinced me, that he who destroys dwellings, gardens
and inclosures, for the sake of mere extent, and parade of property,
only extends the bounds of monotony, and of dreary, selfish pride; but
contrasts those of vanity, amusement and humanity."

One may trace, too, his feeling mind towards the conclusion of his
second volume, where, after many pleasing pages on the rural scenery of
cottages, and in hamlets and villages, ("where a lover of humanity may
find so many sources of amusement and interest,") and on the means of
embellishing them, "I could wish (says he) to turn the minds of
improvers from too much attachment to solitary parade, towards objects
more connected with general habitation and embellishment; ... and it may
be truly said, that there is no way in which wealth can produce such
natural unaffected variety, and such interest, as by adorning a real
village, and promoting the comforts and enjoyments of its inhabitants.
_Goldsmith_ has most feelingly described (more, I trust, from the warmth
of a poetical imagination and quick sensibility than from real fact),
the ravages of wealthy pride. My aim is to shew, that they are no less
hostile to real taste, than to humanity; and should I succeed, it is
possible that those, whom all the affecting images and pathetic touches
of Goldsmith would not have restrained from destroying a village, may
even be induced to build one, in order to shew their taste in the
decoration and disposition of village-houses and cottages." After many
traces of village scenery, he thus proceeds: "The church, together with
the church-yard, is, on various accounts, an interesting object to the
villagers of every age and disposition; to the old and serious, as a
spot consecrated to the purposes of religion, where the living christian
performs his devotions, and where, after his death, his body is
deposited near those of his ancestors and departed friends, and
relations: to the young and thoughtle